Ant McPartlin has pleaded guilty to drinking and driving before smashing into three other vehicles in a boozed-up crash.

The shamed TV star apologised in court for his actions, saying: "I'm very sorry I did this. I'm ashamed and mortified that this happened."

His quickie plea took place in just two minutes shortly after 2pm at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court.

Half an hour early, Ant was seen in public for the first time since checking himself into rehab nearly four weeks ago.

Ant's expression indicated deep regret (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

He looked pale and gaunt as he climbed out of the back of a black Mercedes and was escorted into court by uniformed police.

Here, body language expert Judi James explains the secret guilty gestures that Ant inadvertently gave away before facing up to his misbehaviour in court...

Ant McPartlin could well have been on automatic pilot today as he faced the seething crowd of photographers waiting to see him walk into court.

For the entire stretch of his amazing career to date, he would have responded to this level of press attention with a grin and a wave - but today he adopted something close to a blank face as he walked from his car to the courtroom entrance.

Ant looked grim as he got out of his car (Image: Getty Images Europe)

He ducked his head in a 'cut-off' gesture (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Emerging from the car, he was standing higher than the cameramen and in profile he appeared to have his lips sucked in slightly and his right eyebrow was angled in a way that suggested his brows were puckered or steepled in the middle, which is a gesture often associated with regret or sadness.

He didn't attempt to hide his eyes behind sunglasses but he did duck his head slightly in a cut-off gesture as he vanished into the sea of cameras.

Climbing the stairs at the other side of the cameras his gait looked determined, with his left elbow pushed out and a slight roll in his step to suggest he wanted to get inside as quickly as possible.

Ant had to run the gauntlet of the media (Image: i-Images Picture Agency)

He stared directly ahead (Image: SWNS.com)

As Ant emerged from the car, his eyes stared ahead as though seeming to be trying to pretend the cameras weren't there.

His brows were drawn up and pinched in the middle in an expression of what looks like deep sadness, and the gesture ripples upward to create four large furrows in his brow, suggesting he could even have been close to tears.

His lips were pursed slightly, pulled in what can often be a gesture of sadness or regret.

Ant pursed his lips as he surveyed the media scrum (Image: Daily Mirror)

When he got to the stairs via the throng of photographers, his face was etched in an expression of even deeper sadness.

His brow was folded into seven deep furrows and his eyes looked huge.

There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and from the corners of his nose to the sides of his mouth and his lower eyelids seem to have drooped so that you can see a large amount of the white of the eye beneath his pupils, which adds to the expression of sadness and potential tearfulness.